Verizon kills early upgrade program, even for some current customers

All competitors continue to offer early upgrades in some capacity.

Verizon's handset upgrade discounts for customers in a two-year contract will now only be available after the two years are up, rather than after 20 months, the carrier stated Friday. In addition, any "New Every Two" credits that customers may have built up will expire in three days.

Customers with Verizon were formerly able to start looking for and purchasing new phones at new contract prices a few months before their contracts were up. On the downside, customers had to begin new contracts early, but it also meant they had quicker access to newer phones.

Starting with customers whose contracts end a little less than a year from now (January 1, 2014), customers will have to wait out the full two years before they can get the new-contract prices on phone upgrades. Customers whose contracts end before that will still be able to get their early upgrades.

In addition to the removal of early upgrades, Verizon will also force the expiration of New Every Two credits, a program that ended in January 2011 that gave customers between $30 and $50 of credit toward a new phone in addition to the new-contract discount. If you have one left over, you have only the weekend to use it.

Verizon notes that customers will still be able to share upgrades between people on the same account as long as the eligible upgrade is a product of the same category. Upgrades will no longer be transferable to non-phones like Jetpacks or tablets, states Verizon.

Meanwhile, AT&T will continue to offer 20-month early upgrades, as well as partial discounts for those not yet far along enough in their contract for a full discount. T-Mobile likewise offers discounts as early as 12 months, and allows customers to buy a new phone and subsidize the difference between a new-contract price over 24 months of a new contract. Sprint offers early upgrades at 22 months for older contracts, and 20 months for newer ones.

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Casey Johnston
Casey Johnston is the former Culture Editor at Ars Technica, and now does the occasional freelance story. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Applied Physics. Twitter@caseyjohnston

This sucks for Verizon customers, but I feel like it's not as bad happening now as it would have been if it had happened a few years ago. My current smartphone is going on four years old now with very few problems other than some battery fatigue, whereas before this I never kept a phone for the full two-year contract. Phones will obviously continue to improve as time goes on (I'm eyeing a possible upgrade towards the end of this year, myself) but they're no longer improving at a pace that makes it necessary to upgrade at the same rate.

As commented over at The Verge, this is a really stupid move. If someone takes advantage of an early upgrade offer 20 months into their contract, they're then on the hook for another two years. Whereas now when they finally become eligible, they can walk away from Verizon free and clear.

This sucks for Verizon customers, but I feel like it's not as bad happening now as it would have been if it had happened a few years ago. My current smartphone is going on four years old now with very few problems other than some battery fatigue, whereas before this I never kept a phone for the full two-year contract. Phones will obviously continue to improve as time goes on (I'm eyeing a possible upgrade towards the end of this year, myself) but they're no longer improving at a pace that makes it necessary to upgrade at the same rate.

Again though - this is a bad thing for Verizon customers.

What do you have that's 4 years old and you're happy with? I was so happy to get rid of my HTC Desire last year because it had so little space left that I couldn't do anything, and new apps were starting to be 4.0 only.

I do anticipate being able to use my GS3 for a long time though. The stuff coming out now is all going in the wrong direction (too large, too many useless manufacturer specific features that won't work).

As commented over at The Verge, this is a really stupid move. If someone takes advantage of an early upgrade offer 20 months into their contract, they're then on the hook for another two years. Whereas now when they finally become eligible, they can walk away from Verizon free and clear.

Yeah... you upgrade 4 months early, and your contract is extended by 24 months from the actual expiration. So you're actually on the hook for 28 months after the upgrade... which will make that next upgrade seem even further away.

I am starting to strong consider going unlocked and contract-free. With the resale value of phones on EBay, I may be able to do it for basically the same price as a contract phone.

As commented over at The Verge, this is a really stupid move. If someone takes advantage of an early upgrade offer 20 months into their contract, they're then on the hook for another two years. Whereas now when they finally become eligible, they can walk away from Verizon free and clear.

This is my first thought too. I mean, I'm a Verizon customer who's planning to do the 20-month upgrade thing this July, and I completely acknowledge that it's a devious business move that will hook me into their system through Thanksgiving 2015. But after that? Yeah, I'll be looking at a new carrier. Why not?

I highly recommend going contract free with an unlocked phone. I recently switched from Verizon to one such carrier with a phone that uses Verizon towers and I haven't had a single issue, going on 3 months now.

I might consider a contract again if I had a reasonably sized family on a plan, but as a 23 year old with no close family ties, it doesn't make sense to go any other way.

Yeah... you upgrade 4 months early, and your contract is extended by 24 months from the actual expiration. So you're actually on the hook for 28 months after the upgrade...

I've never done an early upgrade so I can't cite personal experience, but I would think they'd reset the clock if you sign a new contract. They'd lose four months off the old one but retain you as a customer. If anyone else can clarify go right ahead. [Edit: Reaper0Bot0 stepped in.]

The greater point being, however, that there would be a four-month window while you're still on the old contract during which they can entice you with a new contract offer (using a new handset as the carrot). You're a captive audience at that point.

Whereas with this new arrangement you can simply leave Verizon for something better since there's no early-upgrade incentive any more.

I love living in rural Vermont, but I hate that Verizon is really my only option. I'd love to switch to T-Mobile and would do so in a heartbeat if I could.

Pre-paid is almost as bad if I want something decent. I wish one of the better pre-paid providers (Boost, Virgin, etc) supported more than one tower, but as it is they mostly only use Sprint, and their coverage is shoddy at best. :\

I pay over $200/month to Verizon. Upgrading our two iPhone 4s would necessitate an upgrade for the data plan which will increase the monthly bill. I don't even use all that much data so unlimited data going away isn't that big of a deal, but then again there is not that much benefit for me to upgrade.

Anyhow, once all of the contracts in the family plan end I'm contemplating switching.

I pay over $200/month to Verizon. Upgrading our two iPhone 4s would necessitate an upgrade for the data plan which will increase the monthly bill. I don't even use all that much data so unlimited data going away isn't that big of a deal, but then again there is not that much benefit for me to upgrade.

Anyhow, once all of the contracts in the family plan end I'm contemplating switching.

Dang!

My wife and I saved money switching to their shared data plans, still $170 for the both of us when the dust settles, sharing 4GB of data. I'll be hunting for a cheaper option when off contract this fall.

I know that taking the pulse of commenters on a tech site does not equal public sentiment at large, but I wonder if T-Mobile might be gathering a groundswell with their new approach. I certainbly hope so.

I actually have what is probably a pretty dumb question... If you are paying for your phone over the two-year contract, that should mean that once you are past the two-year period, your bill should go down since you have fully paid for the phone at that point. My question is this: Is there any cell carrier that actually does this, or do they all just hope no one notices that they should be paying less at that point?

1) It's going to annoy people, especially giving so little warning before the New Every Two credits expire. I know other factors come into play like coverage and phone selection but keep pissing people off enough and often enough and they will leave.

2) By the time an individual can upgrade they are out of contract and are free to move to someone else. With the early upgrade it is harder to switch because you could.A) Stick with your existing carrier with a new contract and get a new phoneB) Wait out the additional 4 months to get out of contractC) Pay the ETF to cancel Verizon early to switch to another carrierThe early upgrade really was a good way to keep individual tied to their existing carrier. For family plans the early upgrade virtually guaranteed that you'd have to pay an ETF to switch or wait extra long to upgrade one or more phones.

This is kinda a bummer for me because while my personal phone is on T-Mobile I'll be getting a iPhone through Verizon in September for my work phone and this means I'll have to wait the full 24 months to upgrade that again in 2015.

I love living in rural Vermont, but I hate that Verizon is really my only option. I'd love to switch to T-Mobile and would do so in a heartbeat if I could.

Pre-paid is almost as bad if I want something decent. I wish one of the better pre-paid providers (Boost, Virgin, etc) supported more than one tower, but as it is they mostly only use Sprint, and their coverage is shoddy at best. :\

The two you mention are owned by Sprint. You should take a look at StraightTalk which is an MVNO based on AT&T & TMobile's GSM networks.

If this isn't allowed I apologize, but to anyone who wants Verizon's rock solid network without their BS, PagePlus has been excellent for the 3 months I've had it. And if you already have a Verizon (non-4G) smartphone you can use it with the MVNO, since the network is obviously the same. Currently using my Verizon iPhone with them and there have been zero issues to date.

I actually have what is probably a pretty dumb question... If you are paying for your phone over the two-year contract, that should mean that once you are past the two-year period, your bill should go down since you have fully paid for the phone at that point. My question is this: Is there any cell carrier that actually does this, or do they all just hope no one notices that they should be paying less at that point?

That is basically how the new T-Mobile plans work if you choose to pay your phone off over time instead of up-front. They have a base rate that is contract-free(and much lower than AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint) and they add $X per month for Y months. For my wife and I, the 500 MB plan with unlimited voice and messaging would likely be enough and would cost us $80 per month. For $20 more it would get us 2.5 GB each. Paying over $150 for 2GB shared on Verizon right now, and that is after an 18% discount through my employer...

I actually have what is probably a pretty dumb question... If you are paying for your phone over the two-year contract, that should mean that once you are past the two-year period, your bill should go down since you have fully paid for the phone at that point. My question is this: Is there any cell carrier that actually does this, or do they all just hope no one notices that they should be paying less at that point?

You aren't repaying the credit by their logic. Your agreement to stick with them for 2-years is payment for the phone credit up front.

I actually have what is probably a pretty dumb question... If you are paying for your phone over the two-year contract, that should mean that once you are past the two-year period, your bill should go down since you have fully paid for the phone at that point. My question is this: Is there any cell carrier that actually does this, or do they all just hope no one notices that they should be paying less at that point?

That is basically how the new T-Mobile plans work if you choose to pay your phone off over time instead of up-front. They have a base rate that is contract-free(and much lower than AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint) and they add $X per month for Y months. For my wife and I, the 500 MB plan with unlimited voice and messaging would likely be enough and would cost us $80 per month. For $20 more it would get us 2.5 GB each. Paying over $150 for 2GB shared on Verizon right now, and that is after an 18% discount through my employer...

I'm in a similar situation. I had been on an unlimited plan with my parents because I get that discount through my employer, and due to issues with my last phone, we were pretty much forced to upgrade to their crummy plan to get decent phones. Now we're paying more per month because that discount that I get on my bill does not apply to that like $40 per phone cost to add it to the plan. How crap is that?

I would have switched to T-mobile if they had any kind of 4G coverage in my area, and I'm really hoping that they improve that by the time I get out of my contract next year.

If you are paying for your phone over the two-year contract, that should mean that once you are past the two-year period, your bill should go down since you have fully paid for the phone at that point. My question is this: Is there any cell carrier that actually does this, or do they all just hope no one notices that they should be paying less at that point?

Yes, after 24 months on T-Mobile your monthly bill goes down $20... As someone mentioned earlier, this looks like a move to block Verizon customers from switching to T-Mobile's no-lockin plans, because of the iPhone trade-in for $120 (and no-down iPhone 5).

I pay over $200/month to Verizon. Upgrading our two iPhone 4s would necessitate an upgrade for the data plan which will increase the monthly bill. I don't even use all that much data so unlimited data going away isn't that big of a deal, but then again there is not that much benefit for me to upgrade.

Anyhow, once all of the contracts in the family plan end I'm contemplating switching.

Dang!

My wife and I saved money switching to their shared data plans, still $170 for the both of us when the dust settles, sharing 4GB of data. I'll be hunting for a cheaper option when off contract this fall.

To be fair, I didn't give all the details. Our plan includes two iPhones (with unlimited data) and three feature phones (with no data plans but unlimited texting). The total was around $210 this month but that includes a 25% corporate discount.

Verizon has systematically wiped out any goodwill they may have built up with me. The idea of paying $17.50 per gb is infuriating. They won't give my wife a loyalty credit, even though she's had her moto flipphone since at least 2007, because we're on a shared plan. And now I get my NET credit removed with a weekend's notice, and I read about it on Ars, no email notification.

I emailed them to tell them they sucked when they dumped unlimited data. They tried calling me back to tell me it was a great opportunity to get to pay more for less, but their actions speak louder than words.

If I can get good reception on Tmobile's network in my home, I'm done with Verizon.